


Share the Night

by AllThoseOtherWorlds



Series: Caged Grace [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Sam Winchester, Asexual Castiel, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Castiel goes to a mall, Fluff, M/M, Sam and Cas watch a dance performance, date, dean is oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 04:17:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1373626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllThoseOtherWorlds/pseuds/AllThoseOtherWorlds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean asks Sam if he wants to join him at the bar, not realizing that Sam and Castiel are dating. Sam and Castiel then proceed to go on a date while Dean is at said bar, and by morning several things have been cleared up.</p><p>You can read this without having read the rest of the series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Share the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. I also do not want to offend anyone and if you feel I am misrepresenting asexuality, feel free to call me out on it.
> 
> As always, anything written in bold is in Enochian.
> 
> If you haven't read the rest of the series, all you really need to know is that Sam is an angel now, he speaks Enochian more fluently than English after spending centuries in the Cage, and Cas is travelling with Dean and Sam full time, since he's been exiled from Heaven after the Purgatory incident. And there are no Leviathans running around.

                “So, Sammy,” Dean said as they set their stuff down on the motel beds. “Wanna come to the bar with me, see if we can pick up any chicks?” Dean grinned at him, then added as an afterthought, “I’d invite Cas, but last time I took him to a ‘den of iniquity’ it didn’t work out so well.”

                Sam’s gaze flickered between himself and Castiel. “Uh, no, Dean,” he said incredulously. “But you go.”

                “All right then,” Dean headed for the door. “I’ll be at that place we passed on the way here, just down the road.”

                “Okay, have fun.”

                As soon as Dean had closed the door, Sam turned to Cas with a slightly sheepish expression. **“Sorry about that,”** he frowned. **“I thought he knew.”**

It had been around a month since they had left Bobby’s, and Sam had thought that Dean knew about his relationship with Cas, although in retrospect he hadn’t actually told Dean specifically about it. He supposed that’s what he got for assuming things.

                Cas brushed one of his Grace-wings against Sam’s manifested ones. **“We should probably tell him at some point.”**

                **“Yes,”** Sam agreed. **“But he has gone for the evening now. Shall we do something with the night?”**

                Cas nodded, smiling. **“I have an idea.”** He angled his wings for flight and took off, letting Sam follow him through the spaces between molecules, tracing along the bright flash of Castiel’s Grace. Before he left, he wrote a quick note for Dean – “We’re fine, just out.” There was no need to have Dean panicking if he got back before they did. When they landed, he unmanifested his wings, took in the lighted sign on the building, and turned to Cas.

                **“A dance performance?”** Dean would probably tease him mercilessly for it if he had known, but Sam had been to a few dance performances with Jess, and thought that some of them were quite good.

                Cas took his hand and led them towards the entrance of the building. **“I thought you would appreciate the performance, both for the aesthetic and for its lack of dependence upon language.”**

                Sam smiled. He’d gotten used to speaking English again, for the most part, but he always enjoyed being able to drop it for a while when he was with Cas. **“Thanks.”**

                They entered the building and purchased tickets with money that was probably not, strictly speaking, theirs, and took seats in the auditorium. It was a large room, but there were many empty seats and they managed to get a good view with little effort.

                Sam leaned in towards Cas’ form in the seat next to him, clasping his hand and entwining their fingers together. Cas smiled one of those soft little smiles of his, and Sam returned it when he felt the unmanifested form of Castiel’s wing brush against his own.

                They sat in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the other’s company before the performance started and the lights dimmed save for a bright pool on the stage.

                The performance was wonderful. Sam wasn’t well-versed enough in dance to know what type this was, but he enjoyed the warm music and the brightly graceful figures on the stage. The bright arcs of their costumes, when coupled with the movements of dancing, reminded him oddly of wings and Grace. He shared the thought with Castiel telepathically (so as not to disturb the other patrons) and received a pleased burst of energy in return.

                Soon enough – too soon, Sam thought – the performance was over and they were left applauding with the rest of the audience. They could head back to the room now, of course, but it was still early and it wasn’t as though they needed to sleep anyway. He nudged Castiel gently. **“I know what we should do next”**. Castiel looked at him expectantly, and he grinned and flew off, leaving a trail for the other angel to follow.

                                                                                                    ***                     

                Castiel followed Sam’s trail and looked around in confusion when they landed. **“Sam,”** he asked, **“Why are we in a cluster of stores?”**

                Sam laughed, and reached out to take his hand. **“I thought that since you have taught me so much about angels, I could teach you a bit about humanity.”**

                Was this supposed to clarify matters? Castiel squinted at Sam. **“How does going to a…** shopping mall… **teach me about humanity?”**

                Sam gestured at the people and stores surrounding them. **“If you want exposure to culture and human habits, this is a good place to start. I figured we do not need anything, but we could walk around and I could tell you about things you do not understand. I like talking to you.”**

                Castiel thought about it. He had observed humanity for many years before ever meeting the Winchesters, but he still understood so little of their culture. Perhaps Sam was right, and this place could help him understand. In any case, it was a chance to spend time with Sam, and he wasn’t about to turn that down. He smiled and gestured with his free hand. **“Where to?”**

                They strolled down the long hallway, observing the other people. Every now and then Castiel stopped to ask Sam a question – _Why is that woman angry? What does the symbol on his shirt mean?_ – and Sam would clarify things for him. They continued to discuss the matters in Enochian, which pleased Cas both because it was the only chance he got to hear the language of his home, and because it afforded them privacy from the other people in the mall. He hadn’t been sure he would enjoy being around so many people, but he found that it was surprisingly entertaining – especially with Sam’s company.

                **“Why is the woman in that picture half-dressed?”** he asked, gesturing at a poster in the window of a shop they were passing.

                Sam grimaced. **“Oh, you know, sex sells and all that. They are trying to appeal to the sexual attraction of men walking by.”**

                Castiel nodded, thinking about the image. When he spoke again, he phrased his words carefully. **“I can understand the aesthetic attraction of the woman in question, but I fail to understand this ‘sexual attraction’ of which you speak. Do all humans generally desire this sort of activity?”** Castiel knew he was naïve about humanity, but he did understand what sex was. He’d just never really considered why people actually wanted to engage in it. He knew other angels who _did_ understand the matter – most notably Balthazar, among others – but he himself had never found it anything other than disquieting, and it suddenly occurred to him that Sam might be expecting him to desire something he found personally repulsive.

                He watched anxiously as Sam tried to answer his question. **“Generally, yes. Not always.”**

 **“Oh.”** Cas waited a moment, then said, **“I do not think I find the idea appealing.”**

 **“Oh,”** Sam said, shifting his wings slightly on his back. **“Is that an angel thing, like the translation abilities I lack?”**

                Castiel shook his head. **“I do not believe so. I have always been different from my siblings – too emotional, too rebellious. It is not surprising that I am an outcast in this way as well.”**

                **“No, Cas,”** Sam wrapped his left wing around him in a warm flush of energy not unlike a hug. **“I am certain that there is nothing wrong with you.”** He paused, eyes flicking upwards the way they always did when he was searching for a memory. **“I actually think I saw something once when I was at Stamford about this. … Asexuality, I think?”** He turned to Cas, and the warmth in his eyes flushed out some of the anxious chill building inside Castiel’s grace. **“I think it exists in humans, so why not angels?”**

                Castiel nodded, slowly. It was possible. Angelic society was sorely lacking in anything even remotely resembling education on social or emotional issues – or anything other than obedience and faith, really – so he had no idea what was really possible for them, or for himself. He thought, however, that since sex was a concept inherent to vessels, not angels, and since he knew of angels who felt this particular attraction, the full spectrum of human orientations was likely to exist. He bit back a wry smile at the thought, knowing how many of his siblings would cringe at the idea that they shared anything with the “mud monkeys”, and also knowing how horrified they would be at his current train of thought.

                Pulling his attention back to the matter at hand, he turned to Sam again. **“And this… asexuality. You do not-”** he paused, **“I mean, do you-”**

                He broke off again, but Sam seemed to have gotten the gist of his question, because he answered it nonetheless. **“Cas, I love you. I love being around you, and talking to you, and I love how understanding and insightful and caring you are. I would never ask more of you than you would wish to give. That is not why I am with you.”**

                The words, spoken in the formal, yet familiar tones of Enochian, rang with truth and love, and Castiel reached out his Grace to brush against Sam’s in a soft caress. **“I love you too.”**

When they arrived back at the motel room – after another hour of wandering around, exploring the intricacies of human culture through video game stores and clothing retailers – Dean was back, and asleep. Castiel breathed a sigh of relief he hadn’t known he was holding, glad that Dean had taken their note at face value rather than freaking out as he had done in the past. He supposed the fact that they were both angels had reassured him somewhat of their security.

                He and Sam spent the rest of the evening together, resting on the other bed, curled up facing each other, but with the tips of their wings brushing in a cocoon of half-manifested feathers. Mostly they talked, about the mall, about hunts, about the world in general. At one point, Sam dug out his laptop and did some research to show Cas that he wasn’t alone, wasn’t broken or wrong. Castiel smiled at him, looking over his shoulder at the purple-white-grey-black on the screen, and whispered a telepathic _thank you_. Sam responded in kind, a bright burst of happiness and love and _thank you, for being._ After that, they went outside together to watch the stars fade into the dusky grey of dawn and the colourful spread of a rising sun.

***

                The next morning, Dean confronted them. It was difficult for him to round on them in a typical, Angry Dean Confrontation, since both the angels were awake, and he had to blink his way blearily into the land of the living, but somehow he managed. He waited until he had showered and dressed, but as soon as he was out of the bathroom he demanded, “So, what’s up with you two? What were you doing last night?” Then, suspiciously, “Any apocalypses I should know about?”

“Dean,” Sam said, throwing his best pissy-face at his older brother, “We did not start an Apocalypse.”

                “Oh, okay,” Dean said, and Sam could hear the relief in his voice as he spoke. “Then what _were_ you doing?”

                “Okay,” Sam said, trying to figure out the best angle. “We probably should have told you some time sooner, but we just thought you knew…”

                “Thought I knew what?” Dean demanded.

                “Your brother is saying that we assumed you knew of our relationship,” Castiel interjected, cutting off both Dean’s confused questions and Sam’s awkward half-answers. “We have been together for a while now. Last night we were on, as I believe humans refer to it, a ‘date’.”

                Dean’s face turned incredulous with surprise, but Sam caught a flicker of relief from his brother, rather than any sort of condemnation, and relaxed. When Dean spoke, it was with a more lighthearted tone than the rest of the conversation had held. “Well, you could have told me,” he said, but the smile on his face belied the words. “Whatever makes you happy, I guess. Just-” he pointed an accusing finger at Sam and Castiel “-just don’t make me see anything potentially scarring.”

                Castiel turned to Sam with an inquisitive glance. Sam shook his head, smiling. “Don’t worry, Dean,” he said. “That will not be an issue. Not,” he added, with a mischievous smirk, “that you wouldn't deserve it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome. Thanks for reading!


End file.
